APMM Tribute to Andres "Boypee" Panganiban

Statement of tribute to Mr. Andres Panganiban, former executive director of the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos (APMMF)

The Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) condoles with the family, friends and colleagues of Mr. Andres Panganiban, who passed away today, April 1.

We remember Mr. Panganiban – or Boypee, as those close to him called him – as the energetic founding executive director of the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos (APMMF), the predecessor of the APMM, from 1984 to 1987.

As a selfless person, he exchanged his comfortable, high-paying job as an officer of a multinational bank in Hong Kong to a work with the non-profit community catering to the needs of the marginalized, excluded and exploited Filipinos abroad.

As executive director of APMMF, Boypee exuded the commitment to help in building a strong and solid movement of Filipino migrants in various countries in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. During his term, the labor export program (LEP) of the Philippine government had been in full-swing. Reports of exploitation, abuses and violence abound whether in Hong Kong where the APMMF was based or in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where many Filipinos migrated for work as domestic workers or in the booming oil industry.

Under his leadership, he steered the APMMF in its programs and activities that contributed to the establishment of organizations of Filipino migrants, and also initiated the regional conference of Filipino migrants. These initiatives were keys in laying down the foundation for the development of mass movement of Filipinos overseas culminating in the establishment of the Migrante International, the global alliance of Filipino migrants and families, in the mid-90’s.

After working in the APMMF, Boypee returned to the Philippines and helped establish a rural bank that assisted rural cooperatives. Whether in Hong Kong or in the Philippines, Boypee never wavered in his work that could help those who are in the margins. For several years, he also served in the Board of Directors of the APMMF while he was in the Philippines.

The APMM gives our highest tribute to Boypee. He shall always be a part of our history as well as in the collective history of regional and global movement of Filipino migrants, immigrants and families who, from his days and up to the present, still suffer from the vulnerability and insecurity due to the forced migration and LEP rooted in the Philippines’ dire economic, political and social condition.

Saludo, Boypee! Hindi ka namin malilimutan! (Salute to Boypee. We shall never forget you.)